Learning Spanish in Barcelona

"Learning a new language is like living a new life." I can't remember who said this but it is a pretty powerful and resonating quote.

I only started learning Spanish during my ALBA study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain. I didn't really need it for any of my credits in college, but I think that it is simply fascinating and exhilarating to be able to master a new foreign language, and also terrifying to start everything from scratch. At the time I keep getting "Hola" and "Aloha" (Hawaiian) mixed up, much to the amusement of myself and my friends.

My Spanish instructor, Raisa, is a very nice and patient lady who shared that she had only started learning English when she went to the states during her college years. By the end of the third week, we had gone through simple conversations, basic vocabulary and conjugations for verbs and gender. Some people might say that Spanish is easy to learn once you've mastered English, since they are so similar. I would agree with that statement to some degree. There certainly are a lot of similar vocabulary between English and Spanish, but most of the times they are still so distinct from each other!

It is undeniably frustrating to hear people around me speaking in some sort of secret code that I cannot decipher, and this language barrier hindered me from fully immersing myself with the locals and feel comfortable and at ease in the environment. Nonetheless, the locals are still incredibly friendly and will do their best to communicate with you. I was pleasantly taken aback when most people I'd encountered in stores or restaurants will start conversing with me in Spanish, assuming that I know their language. I usually respond with "no hablo espanol" and then they will immediately switch to English.

I entered the bakery El Mos one morning, wanting to buy a large packaged salad. I went up the the counter and asked: "hi, do you sell salad?"The lady heard me say the word “salad” and boldly pointed to the tiny pieces of lettuces peeking out from cracks of the sugar-coated croissants laid out behind the glass case. I was so stunned that I did not know whether to laugh or cry in reaction.

Another time I was sitting in a cafe and a kind-looking elderly waitress approached me and tried to tell me something in Spanish, I could only pick out “dos” which means "two" in Spanish. Okay, so two somethings...? I kept nodding and looking politely confused and feeling super helpless inside. Fortunately, a Spanish girl studying nearby understood and was able to quickly translate the old lady's message in English. Apparently, if I answered their survey question, I can get two sandwiches for free. Wow. How I wish that I could interact smoothly with the people here!

I thought about why I tried not to start speaking English immediately in a store. I guess I like to pretend that I'm a native or at least someone who is comfortable navigating around Barcelona by herself. Don't we all want to act like a local while traveling?

Luckily, nothing embarrassing or humiliating happened to me when I was in Barcelona. Wait no, I remembered doing an exercise for my Spanish class. Two other classmates and I went into a restaurant to try and order patata bravas in Spanish. When the waiter was asking us for drinks, I blanked out and couldn't remember how to say "It's okay I'm fine" when he asked if I wanted to get something. I wanted to hit myself on the head after that awkward encounter of me being speechless in an agonizing silence while the waiter stared expectantly at me with raised eyebrows. But yeah, I guess nothing truly bad happened.

I was very impressed with a young teenage Asian waitress in a cafe that could speak Mandarin, English and Spanish. I initiated a conversation and found out that her family decided to move from China and start a business in Barcelona, so she learned the language when she was young. That was something so cool it blew my mind. Overall, it was truly a new but fun time of seeing a menu in a restaurant, or a sign on the street, or a food label in the supermarket and going "Wait. What's that?" And then the knee jerk reaction would be to fumble for my Spanish English dictionary on my smartphone.Although I am not continuing my Spanish education back at UW now, that learning period opened a door for me into the Spanish-speaking culture and community which is very enriching.